LONG CREEK – A domestic dispute ended in a shooting early Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer said the incident was reported to 9-1-1 about 12:20 a.m. by a child, who told dispatchers that her father had shot himself with a gun.

Sheriff’s deputies and the Long Creek Ambulance were dispatched to the single-wide mobile home where the shooting occurred.

Palmer and Undersheriff Jim McNellis found that a woman, 35, and a man, 38 had been in a dispute that escalated into violence. The investigation indicated that the woman was seriously injured when the man struck her repeatedly with a handgun. The man then fired the gun twice. The first bullet hit the ceiling and the other hit the man in the head.

The man was taken by ambulance to Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day and then flown by air ambulance to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend. He was listed in critical condition later Wednesday.

Palmer said the woman was treated and released for her injuries at Blue Mountain Hospital.

The sheriff said alcohol was a contributing factor in the fight.